We arrived in Guiana, Sat JUNE 25th. June 26,2011 - Am in a Piper Super Cub with Mitch Sinclair at the controls, flying over the Amazon River Basin! Mitch is my friend of 20 years, who has been my compatriot in my misadventures on this glorious planet of ours. His wife, Liz is a saint! She stayed home with the children while I whisked her hubby away on this crazy, last minute trip. She says that she forgives me, since I am the reason why they got together in the first place, 18 years ago. I love them both!
Politically the basin is divided into the Brazilian Amazônia Legal and the Peruvian Amazon.
The most widely spoken language in the Amazon is Portuguese, followed closely by Spanish. On the Brazilian side Portuguese is spoken by at least 98% of the population, whilst in the Spanish-speaking countries there can still be found a large number of speakers of Native American languages, though Spanish easily predominates.
There are hundreds of native languages still spoken in the Amazon, most of which are spoken by only a handful of people, and thus seriously endangered. One of the most widely spoken languages in the Amazon is Nheengatu, which is descended from the ancient Tupi language, originally spoken in coastal and central regions of Brazil. It was brought to its present location along the Rio Negro by Brazilian colonizers who, until the mid-17th century, used Tupi more than the official Portuguese to communicate. Besides modern Nheengatu, other languages of the Tupi family are spoken there, along with other language families like Jê (with its important sub-branch Jayapura spoken in the Xingu River region and othes), Arawak, Karib, Arawá, Yanomamo, Matsés and others.
The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The basin is located mainly (40%) in Brazil, but also stretches into Peru and several other countries, eight in total. The South American rain forest of the Amazon is the largest in the world, covering about 8,235,430 km2 with dense tropical forest. For centuries, this has protected the area and the animals residing in it.
Not all of the plants, animals or native tribes that live in the Amazon Basin are known because of its huge unexplored areas. No one knows how many species of fish there are in the river. Plant growth is dense because of the heavy rainfall. One tropical fruit tree that is native to the Amazon is the abiu. There are thousands of plants, all in different colors, sizes, and shapes. Also, there are many vines and huge trees that give shade when the weather is hot.
The Amazon river Basin has an equatorial climate. Annual rain fall is approximately 1500-2500 mm. Day temperatures typically reach 30-35°C, while night temperatures reach 20-25°C.
On June 29th, When I return to NY, USA, I will post this with the surviving photos, if any. On June 27th, took a spill and got water in everything! So much for a water proof camera! Of course it did not help that I was replacing the batteries at the time! Piranhas were there, but did not bother us. Mitch caught a few for dinner though, yummy? "Eat the fish that bit you! ", he said. I answered him," You were the one bitten last time we were here in the dry season, not me! You eat 'em!" I stuck out my tongue at him, grinned and sat down to my meal of yams, bananas, nuts and acai berries.
These moments are more precious than any photograph ever taken. I would not trade it for anything in the world.
Blue Morphos Butterfly
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